Buying on Ebay ,,,,,,Is it worth it? anymore

[aeutlutian]

I have noticed Ebay isn't what it used to be , I rarely buy on Ebay anymore at all for Toys , I usually find good stuff at Second hand stores and Garage sales, Also in no part due to Ebay but I refuse to buy Anything from the United Kingdom , the rates are insane , it's cheaper to have things sent from the outer reaches of outer Mongolia than the United Kingdom ,,,,.. Why can't I filter out the UK auctions

And I am so sick of sellers still looking in a 1997 toyfare magazine to set their prices
YES in 1997 it was worth 500 dollars but NOW its only 50 bucks, Arrrgh!!

But Ebay has always been a Sellers market , so I do sell on Ebay but I am always fair on shipping , I have a postal scale at my house , I never guestimate Or Charge Handling prices , and I even buy my own Bubble wrap and use shredded News paper as filler , still No Handling charge ,

Anyway that was just a rant if you agree or disagree give a shout

[gort]

I find ebay tends to go in phases, at least for me. There'll be a period when I seem to be having plenty of luck followed by a dead spell. A lot of lines I'm interested in were never released here, or only in limited quantities, so second hand stores, toy fairs etc only take me so far.

As for items from the UK, the pound is very strong at the moment, especially against the dollar. Also the UK postal system can be fairly expensive for larger or heavier overseas items. I think lot of UK sellers are suffering because of a combination of the two (and a lot of others just seem to overcharge on shipping).

Personally I try to charge actual shipping costs, and always list my overseas rates in the auction, but on heavier stuff the prices are still high, especially if I want to include insurance (Europe isn't so bad, but the rest of the world prices tend to suffer).

[aeutlutian]

I like buying from Australia , Nice exchange rate in my favor , I have bought from the UK in the past always more than I wanted to spend , the worst was charged 25 GBP to ship a book , It was like 48.00 Dollars , I assumed the book was HUGE it was a history book on the Sumerian Archeology dig In UR Iraq, The book cost me 25.GBP I was expecting a Coffee table size book of wonder , when it came it fit in my Post office box with lots of room and was only 98 pages, and took 6 weeks to get there so after all was said and done I spent 96.00Dollars on it ,,,,,,,,,,, And the absolute worst part was a week later to the day I got it , I found the SAME book at Goodwill for 1.00Dollar,,,,,,,I must of really pissed of the universe sometime ,

[drbo]

I'm from Quebec, Canada and for me E-Bay is still a very good alternative.
Before that my collection was made mainly from buying stuff from my friend and friend's friend chilhood, very rarely from Garages Sales and occasionnal Sci-Fi convention.

E-Bay allowed me the build up collection and find stuff I would have never found on a physical space around my place, and it still is. Sure, shipping cost are often high but I always count expect them.
I always keep an eye on Garage Sales and second hand store but very rarely find interesting stuff. So for me no question asked, E-Bay is a must for my collector need. I had some bad experience, but to such a small scale it doesn't remove from all the good ones I had.

[treckmeyer]

I have to buy from Ebay. I live in northern Minnesota, and it is a very small town, so I don't get many garage sales, and there are no toy stores, or vintage collectible places, and certainly no shows to go to. You can still get good deals on Ebay, and let's face it, stuff comes up eventually, even if the dry spell is on. It's like a great big show that you can always go to. yes, there are high prices sometimes, but that is the way it goes. for me, it is everything. Without Ebay, I would have no collection, and certainly no chance to really collect anything. In any case, I like it, and count on it for everything, especially up here in small town USA.

[soundwave]

the only deals i find are in your own country otherwise customs and poastage kill you and i don't like bidding because alot of people like to nickel and dime at the end of an auction. i usually look for buy it now prices that are agreeable

[matt]

treckmeyer said:

I have to buy from Ebay. I live in northern Minnesota, and it is a very small town, so I don't get many garage sales, and there are no toy stores, or vintage collectible places, and certainly no shows to go to. You can still get good deals on Ebay, and let's face it, stuff comes up eventually, even if the dry spell is on. It's like a great big show that you can always go to. yes, there are high prices sometimes, but that is the way it goes. for me, it is everything. Without Ebay, I would have no collection, and certainly no chance to really collect anything. In any case, I like it, and count on it for everything, especially up here in small town USA.

trekmeyer summed it up for me quite well. I run into the same problems living in batavia ny. Without ebay I would only have a collection that consisted of what I could find at kmart or target

[neoviper76]

I have quite a few flea markets in my area ....all with quite a few vendors with vintage action figs. Ive gotten very good deals at these places. I go to ebay usually as a last resort. The thing about ebay....is even though they may have a decent feedback rating.....you never really know who you are dealing with. I dont get excited when I win something..........I get excited when it actually shows up at my door in good condition. Ive gotten hosed before.....and it was nt fun. So all in all...for me...its flea markets...online stores....people on forums.....then evilbay.

[Meatybat]

The sad part is all the people that are at the flea markets now think if something says 1980 something or less its a national treasure. OR you have to compete with idiots that buy everything up to just put it on E bay not even knowing if its worth a damn or not. I had to tell a guy about dollar store wrestler once, heres how it played out .... Dave , how much for the DOLLAR store wrestler ? Those are tough to find , he replied . I said, hard to find on the moon ? Its a DOLLAR store figure, stop being a weirdo. OK, $2.00 he said. I paid $2.00 ,in change , under duress . I also broke the hand off a naked Mego for good measures. Sometimes you gotta show people you mean bidness.

[Captainamerica]

Ebay's like any other marketplace, there are some jerks, scammers, and scheisters everywhere. But there's some good deals to be had, if you keep looking. Sure, it's not the overstocked hunting ground it was a few years back, but the same can be said for toy shows, too. I recently had two deals fall apart thanks to some truly half-assed sellers that wanted to sit on my money and argue about when they should ship, rather than send my items. But, on the other side, I've also grabbed some amazing deals in the same time frame...including some art that I saved $750 on(Gallery Price= $1100, ebay $350) and a sweet lot that included a Thunderlips, Clubber Lang, and a pair of WWF LJN British Bulldogs with belts for about $15 shipped.

aeutlutian, I feel your pain on UK shipping and the exchange rate, I recently bought some Action Force and the shipping DOUBLED my price. But, believe me, UK sellers have nothing on Southeast Asian ones, a lot of Hong Kong sellers will inflate shipping charges quicker than helium.

[urrutiap]

Personally I find Ebay a waste of time and money when it comes to find old action figures from our youth. I mean come on I am not going to waste a 100 bucks on one star wars figure or waste 50 bucks on a huge lot of a bunch of figures. I can find them cheapter at rummage sales since you can buy the figure at a rummage sale for just 25 or 50 cents. Plus Ebay doesnt have everything like Power Lords or the classic Robocop action figures

[toyboxraider]

The only current gripe I have about ebay is mainly related to state to state shipping charges. Has the postage gone up that much? I was looking at one figure, yes only 1, the other day and the buy it now price was around 10.99. Guess what the individual wanted for shipping ---- 10.99. I was shocked, for like a 6 inch figure. The person wanted handling fees for 6 inches. I bet 10 incher charges less than that. LOL

[neoviper76]

toyboxraider said:

The only current gripe I have about ebay is mainly related to state to state shipping charges. Has the postage gone up that much? I was looking at one figure, yes only 1, the other day and the buy it now price was around 10.99. Guess what the individual wanted for shipping ---- 10.99. I was shocked, for like a 6 inch figure. The person wanted handling fees for 6 inches. I bet 10 incher charges less than that. LOL

Ive run into that quite a bit. Usually the seller just trying to make some dough off the shipping price. I saw an auction one time for Muscle lot of 10 figs. Starting bid was a penny.......shipping was 9.99. 10 bucks for 10 little pvc figs. Basically about a dollar a fig. No way I was bidding on that when I just recently won a lot of 40 and it cost the guy 2.50 to ship.

[graham1975]

I think ebay has been invaluable over the years. Sure there are some scam merchants and shipping costs can be a pain. But if you ask questions, rely on good feed back and don't see what you want your eyes to see there are some great deals to be had. Pre Internet days dealers could charge what they wanted and no one knew how rare things truly were. No bidders can make up their own minds and indeed prices.

[toyboxraider]

I truly believe It is a necessity to collecting for me. There are a lot of collectors here in my city and very little pops up in the yardsales and thrift stores. Alas, I will just have to pay the shipping, but I do get what I want and sometimes a good deal comes forth. I was just telling captainamerica the other day that I won a Mazinga on ebay for 10.50 and the cap was helpful in giving me some great info and tips about my new figure. Ill post pics when he arrives. I also won a lot of 9 C.O.P.S figures for a good price and will post them later as they have arrived. It is a necessity for me!

[henchman]

I've always been a big fan of ebay. I am fortunate to live in an area that has tons of swap meets but whenever i find stuff it's broken and clearly not worth my time.

[anna]

i personally hate e-bay too many scammers plus i hate how people judge prices by what they go for there they seem to forget poeople over pay fearing that they cant get them thats why im glad for places like this where i can put up my wantlists musch easier i think.

[10incher]

I find Ebay a necessity where I live sadly as the years go by it gets worse and worse with bad sellers. I finally broke down and bought a Cats Lair, it arrived the other day to find I was overcharged $20 on shipping, the item was poorly packed and parts were broken (that looked like they were missed in the description, not from the poor packing).

The main problem I find is Ebay itself is super lame and doesn't enforce any rules whatsoever. The biggest impact I can make on this transaction is that I leave the seller bad feedback , wooptie-do! Even their new 5 star rating system is kinda useless. I guess as long as Ebay make money thats all that matters to them.